Dr. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo played an outstanding role in the South African
liberation movement for over half a century - in persuading the Indian community
to link its destiny with that of the African majority, in building the unity of
all the oppressed people and democratic whites of that country in a common
struggle against racism, in promoting fearless and militant resistance to the
oppressors, and in developing the international outlook of the movement and
international solidarity with it. He led the non-violent Indian passive
resistance movement - uniting Gandhians, Marxists and others. He was a founder
and leader of the Non-European United Front, and of the Communist Party when it
was revived as a clandestine organisation. And since going into exile in 1960,
he played a key role in promoting underground and armed struggle in South Africa
and a world-wide anti-apartheid movement.

His contribution was recognised by the national Indian organisation and by
the Communist Party which elected him chairman. It was acknowledged by the
African National Congress which awarded him its highest honour, Isitwalandwe-Seaparankoe
in 1955, and elected him the Vice-Chairman of its Revolutionary Council and
later of its Politico-Military Council. It was also recognised by the racist
regime which imprisoned and restricted him on numerous occasions.

Dr. Dadoo began his political activities as a young pupil in South Africa in
his teens. Inspired by the spirit of defiance of injustice that Mahatma Gandhi
tried to impart in the Indian community in South Africa, he took part in
demonstrations against anti-Indian measures by the racist regime and organised a
meeting of students to hear Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the Indian poet and national
leader, who saw, already in 1924, that the struggle of the Indian community is
linked with that of the African and Coloured people. Though he came from a
prosperous Indian family, he developed a sense of solidarity with the African
people suffering inhuman exploitation, and took an interest in the African trade
union movement (ICU). He even helped African workers in his father`s business in
their strike for better conditions.

In later years, during his sojourn in India and in Britain as a student, he
not only identified with the Indian national movement and the anti-fascist and
anti-colonial movements in Europe but actively participated in them. He was
first arrested in 1929 in London in a demonstration for Indian freedom. The
unity of the oppressed people and democratic whites, advocated by Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru and the League against Imperialism, and the united front
against fascism which was espoused by progressive leaders in Europe, were an
inspiration to him. He saw clearly that such unity was essential in the struggle
against racism in South Africa.

Returning to South Africa in 1936, he soon began to confront the authorities,
as well as the rich traders in the leadership of the Indian Congresses who saw
the future of the community in an accommodation with the racist regime and kept
aloof from the struggle of the Africans. He began to organise the community for
resistance and at the same time pressed for unity with the Africans and the
Coloured people in a common struggle. In 1938-39 he became the founder and
secretary of the Transvaal Non-European United Front and leader of the
Nationalist Group of the Transvaal Indian Congress. Above all, he fully
dedicated himself to the struggle for freedom and equality for all the people of
South Africa. His first two trials in South Africa were, in fact, not in the
struggle of the Indian community but for his work as a leader of Non-European
United Front. From the dock of the racist courts, he denounced the oppression
and exploitation of all the black people in South Africa. In 1944-45 he was
associated with Dr. A.B. Xuma, President of the African National Congress, in a
campaign against the humiliating pass laws imposed upon the African people, and
was again arrested for leading a procession.

In 1946-48, he led the Indian passive resistance movement in which over two
thousand people courted imprisonment, and served two terms of imprisonment with
hard labour. Even during that difficult struggle, which was to have a great
impact on the liberation movement, he and his colleagues helped the great
African mineworkers` strike of August 1946. A number of Africans, Coloured
people and whites went to prison in solidarity with the Indian people. Out of
that experience came the Xuma-Naicker-Dadoo pact for cooperation between the
African and Indian Congresses. His determined efforts to promote cooperation in
struggle, despite all difficulties, contributed greatly to the joint action of
African and Indian Congresses in the stay-at-home on June 26, 1950, in protest
against apartheid, and then to the historic Campaign of Defiance of Unjust Laws
in 1952 in which he was the first, together with Nelson Mandela, to court
imprisonment. Banned and restricted, he continued clandestine acivities to
strengthen the Congress Alliance of the 1950`s and helped the formation of the
underground South African Communist Party.

The Sharpeville massacre, the outlawing of the African National Congress and
the State of Emergency in 1960, created a new situation. Going abroad at the
insistence of the liberation movement, he made a great contribution, in
cooperation with the leaders of the African National Congress, to the
organization of armed struggle and to the building of a world-wide
anti-apartheid movement.

Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress, pointed out at his
funeral in 1983:

"...it would be wrong to conceive of Comrade Dadoo only as a leader of
the Indian community of our population. He was one of the foremost leaders of
our country, of the stature of Chief Lutuli, Moses Kotane, J. B. Marks, Bram
Fischer, Nelson Mandela and others...

"His contribution as a member of the Revolutionary Council of the
African National Congress cannot possibly be overstated...

"As a true patriot, Dadoo understood already in the thirties that the
struggle in South Africa is part of a much wider struggle against capitalism,
colonialism and for national liberation, peace and social progress. We owe it
to stalwarts like him that today our vanguard liberation movement, the African
National Congress, enjoys high international prestige as a genuine spokesman
and leader of our people`s advance to the seizure of power."

I have prepared this compilation of his speeches and writings, from 1940 to
the day he passed away in London, in the hope that it will assist scholars and
students interested in the study of the history of the great South African
liberation movement. I am aware that no such compilation can fully reflect his
wide-ranging contribution to the struggle, for, though he was a powerful speaker
and a thinker, he was, above all, a man of action.

He led by his example, by his readiness to participate in every struggle and
campaign, whatever the sacrifice. He never set himself apart as a leader, but
was always with the freedom fighters. By his commitment, courage and modesty, he
earned the love and affection of the people, and the admiration even of those
who disagreed with his ideological convictions.

I became interested in the South African struggle, as a student in 1943-44,
when I read a pamphlet by Dr. Dadoo. I became convinced that the destiny of the
Indian community in South Africa was linked to that of the African people, and
that its future can only be secured by its wholehearted participation in the
common struggle for freedom and equality, in which the interests of the African
majority must inevitably be paramount. For my country, India, as Pandit Nehru
affirmed, it was not merely a question of the protection of people of Indian
origin but of identification with the struggle for the total liberation of South
Africa.

Twenty years later, as Principal Secretary of the United Nations Special
Committee against Apartheid, I met Dr. Dadoo in London on the suggestion of the
leaders of the African National Congress, and we remained close friends until
his death. I was always impressed by his vision and faith, and by the readiness
of this man, who loved life, to sacrifice all. He always emphasised that the
leadership of the struggle belongs to the African National Congress.

His mind was always with those in apartheid prisons in South Africa, above
all, Nelson Mandela for whom he had a great affection - and he constantly
encouraged me in promoting the campaign for the release of South African
political prisoners.

I have, therefore, thought it most appropriate that this compilation of his
speeches and writings should be dedicated to Nelson Mandela, who came to
symbolise the struggle of the South African people against the inhumanity of
racism and for a non-racial and democractic society.

E. S. Reddy
South Africa Freedom Day
June 26, 1990

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I must express my gratitude to a number of friends who have encouraged,
advised and assisted me in the preparation of this compilation:

Shafiur Rahman, the initiator of the Dadoo-Naicker-Xuma scholarship at
Edinburgh University, who has been a constant source of assistance and who
obtained for me several items from British libraries;

T. G. Ramamurthi for his painstaking efforts to find, copy and provide me
with material from the National Archives of India;

Ms. Frene Ginwala for drawing my attention to the documents in the ANC
archives at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London and in the
Pyarelal Collection in the National Archives of India;

Mrs. Sonia Bunting for preparing for me an index of references to Dr.
Dadoo in The Guardian, Advance, Clarion Call, and New
Age;

the staff of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Yale University
Library;